


The Truth Comes Out (a little at a time)

by DeltaRaeRunAway



Category: Dancing with the Stars (US) RPF, Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Ella Enchanted, F/M, Freudian Slips, Puffs, Tissues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 01:38:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1800700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeltaRaeRunAway/pseuds/DeltaRaeRunAway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She let out an exasperated sigh. "Don’t you see? These white lies are getting out of hand. After today, people are going to know!"</p><p>He shrugged, pulling her onto the couch beside him and placing a hand to her knee, stilling her. "Let them know."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Truth Comes Out (a little at a time)

**Author's Note:**

> {Like most of my stories, this was started one day, returned to awhile later, and takes a dive in focus. It began speculative and more abstract, but took a turn into situational. I hope it's still enjoyed!}

* * *

 

 

Maks wasn’t _too_ far off from being a tissue.

 

He could do everything they could, after all.

He dried her tears (and she his, if they were being honest) and killed bugs of all varieties; he made her a little more comfortable when she was sick and annihilated a gargantuan spider in her shower one time. He too was portable, she supposed. [She certainly wouldn’t mind throwing him in her gym bag and taking him on the go—“no, Ma’am, we’re strictly talking products here.”]

 

He was soft and great and all wrapped up in a flexible container…just like Puffs, so it didn’t count as a completely new tangent when she was asked about Maks and turned the interview into a live commercial for the tissue brand.

 

It had only happened once or twice (or however many times the question had come up during her promotional time in New York). Meryl liked to keep her personal life personal, but she had a tendency to feel bad for the kind reporters who just genuinely wanted to _know_. They were curious, and who could blame them? Meryl wasn’t obtuse—she knew that winning an Olympic gold medal and a mirror ball trophy in the same breath made her something of a desired celebrity. Why couldn’t she just let slip one allusion to her and Maks’ relationship? (Then she’d find an unflattering picture of her taken suspiciously recently, look around, paranoid, and remember why. Like the paparazzi needed one more reason to stalk this relevant _star_.)

 

And boy, was there an abundance of these articles, with their grainy snapshots and _speculations_. Maks once confided to her that he got a rather sick sense of satisfaction from reading these and finding most of them to be surprisingly accurate, but nobody actually knew. He liked having her all to himself, he told her. He liked to keep people guessing.

 

Contrarily, she preferred to be read like an open book. It made her antsy, she admitted, to partially uncover her secrets. Then she equated it to ‘it’s best to be either fully clothed or naked, you know? Nothing haphazard.’ and he forgot the path that his striving to understand her was taking.

 

Still, Meryl only had to be told once by a publicist that any such disclosure would be detrimental to her credit as a skater, as a human being. Good girl as was her reputation, she obliged and always managed to, however manipulative the media that day, _keep it to herself_.

 

Until even to the façade of her naivety did it become too obvious that this was, above all, an omission of the truth and not a nod to her love of tissues.

 

“Ok, Meryl -- I have to ask.” [Here it came] “I saw an adorable photo of you and Maks on Facebook this morning.” [She vaguely remembered a commemorative picture.] “How happy were you to reunite with him, and when are the two of you seeing each other again?” [How about right after this invasion of privacy until forever?]

 

Charlie actually _stifled back a laugh_ while she constructed her reply. Not one part of the question would be addressed, but that was how Meryl rolled – inhibited to a fault.

 

“Yeah, we’re in his hometown right now…because of our AMAZING/GREAT/SPECTACULAR relationship with PUFFS!” It was usually the same diversion with a few recycled adjectives, but this time, she was unable to make the transition smoothly, and instantly knew that her unpolished answer would be seen as suspicious.

 

Good job, Meryl. Just like that you singlehandedly ruined everybody’s notions. Is that what you want, to lose your public persona so soon after assuming it? I knew I should’ve just stayed in bed this morning. Darn Maks and his dedication to responsibilities. I could have lied, told him Charlie and I were just out to lunch but he’d understand if the plans changed…but then, where would I be? Back to square one, and outright lying, this time without _any_ reservations! Who let me be a celebrity, anyway?

 

The monologue played in her head as Charlie appeased the interviewer and their sponsors with talk of family values and normal, indirect matters. He should’ve been designated ‘Team Davis/White’ spokesperson a long time ago. It would’ve saved her a heck of a lot of trouble. And flack over her voice. But mostly trouble.

 

Always obedient Meryl, (her father joked that she had a complex straight out of _Ella Enchanted_ ; whenever he said this her mother gave him such a puzzled look that Meryl had to giggle behind her hand. Spending more time with her mom on the regular, she got see the not-so-perfect side of her, but Meryl owned up to being daddy’s-little-girl.), rushed back to Maks’s apartment as soon as the disastrous interview had been completed and spilled her woes.

 

“…and that’s why we have to move to Italy and change our names and never show our faces again.”

 

“Huh? Baby, to be honest I stopped listening about ten minutes ago, but I’m back in and it appears I’ve lost you…”

 

She let out an exasperated sigh. “Don’t you see? These white lies are getting out of hand. After today, people are going to _know_!”

 

He shrugged, pulling her onto the couch beside him and placing a hand to her knee, stilling her. “Let them know.”

 

“It’s—wait, you said—what about—it isn’t that simple.” Finally, she settled on the right words. “You don’t see the severity of the situation. I basically called you a _tissue_ , Maks!”

 

“So I’m a tissue. You’ve called me worse. On television, no less.”

 

“Yeah, but nobody thought twice about that. In context, a teddy bear is the most ordinary of names. Let me reiterate: I equated you to a tissue. Why am I even allowed to do the famous thing?”

 

“You’re right.” He pretended to be solemn, easily mocking her. “I can’t take you anywhere. Guess we’ll just have to waste the days away, secluded from everybody else, going mad in only each other’s company…”

 

“Not appreciated.”

 

“Change of subject, then. When do I get to read these gems you spoke today?”

 

“Knowing technology, probably four hours ago, considering I just now returned.”

 

“Fair enough. Here, let’s see, I have it up.”

 

“I can’t bear to look,” Meryl moaned, burying her face in the crook of his elbow.

 

“Baby, how am I supposed to read this and reassure you that it’s not so bad if you’re cutting my circulation off?”

 

“Oops.” She applied less pressure. “Better?”

 

“Much. OK…wow, alright, baby.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I might have to start remarketing myself. How do you feel about ‘Chmerkovskiy’ as the next household brand name?”

 

“Again, not appreciated.”

 

He put his phone down, clicking it off as he did so. “I think—I _think_ , we’re going to live. Maybe put a pin in that change our names thing, but just yours, and just that last part. And Italy—that could be fun. But no masks, please…would you really ask me to cover this up?” Maks motioned to his face.

 

“Jerk.”

 

“Is that resignation I hear?”

 

“ _That_ is concession. Be thankful you’re handsome.”

 

“Every day, Meryl, every day.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This cites from a real interview that Meryl and Charlie did, titled: "Meryl Davis & Charlie White Spill All Their 'DWTS' Secrets" and it very much is geared towards tissues and NOTHING OFF TOPIC. That being said, this is totally otherwise fictitious and self-invented.


End file.
